Tuesday

Election results showed that district voters approved a $319.3 million bond measure by about 66 percent to 34 percent as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.

"I'm ecstatic about the results so far," Eugene School District Superintendent Gustavo Balderas said. "We're just so pleased with the community support and that the community continues to trust us the way they do. This is for the kids, and they have a right to learn in this educational space."

Bond funds will allow the district to rebuild three schools: North Eugene High School ($135 million), Edison Elementary School ($42 million) and Camas Ridge Elementary School ($40 million). About $9 million worth of renovations also will be completed at Gilham Elementary School.

Other listed projects include $31 million in maintenance repairs and improvements; $16 million worth of school safety, security and seismic upgrades; $12 million to provide equitable facilities; $8 million for curriculum; $6 million for career technical education; $6 million for technology; and $4.8 million for school buses.

The 21-year bond measure is the largest in Lane County history and will increase property taxes on a median-assessed home of $204,147 by about $135 a year, district officials say. That increase would be on top of the roughly $1,600 that the owner of a median-assessed home already pays annually to support district schools.

The bond will not pay for teacher salaries and public employee retirement accounts and is restricted to capital projects only.

With the passing of the bond, the district also will receive $8 million in matching grant funds from the Oregon School Capital Improvement Match program. The program allows communities that pass school improvement general obligation bonds to receive up to $8 million in matching funds.

District officials and school board members Tuesday night were celebratory, but admitted that the real work has yet to begin.

"I'm going back and forth between disbelief and crying," Eugene School Board member Anne Marie Levis said Tuesday night. "It feels really good to have worked this hard and have it pay off like this."

Levis said the board likely would discuss election results and next steps at its board meeting Wednesday night.

"I imagine this will be a huge discussion of what’s next, and where do we start, and what’s the timeline," Levis said. "Obviously, we’re going to need a lot of community input on what we want for North, Edison and Camas Ridge, so we’ll sort of begin that process as well, because building a new building is about more than just foundation and a roof."

Polls show Siuslaw School District bond measure rejected by voters

Siuslaw School District will have to think of a new plan to deal with its deteriorating high school after district voters declined to pass a $108.7 million bond measure Tuesday night.

Election results released at 10 p.m. showed that the measure was defeated about 58 percent to 42 percent.

"The sticker shock on this was too much for some members of the community to wrestle with," Siuslaw district Superintendent Andy Grzeskowiak said.

The 31-year bond measure, which is the largest referred in Florence history, would have allowed the district to construct a new, safer high school and make repairs to its middle and elementary schools.

But significant property tax hikes associated with the measure likely deterred Siuslaw district voters from approving it, according to Grzeskowiak.

"The total combined value (of the three projects) is something the community can't afford," Grzeskowiak said. "When we went out and talked to people they were really earnest and respectful and took the information and understood it was a necessity but said that they simply just can't afford it."

If passed, the bond would have increased property taxes from the current rate of 90 cents per $1,000 to $2.72 per $1,000 of assessed value. The measure would have replaced the district’s 1999 bond, which will be phased out by 2019.

The owner of a median-assessed district home of $200,108 would have seen their overall tax for the district bond increase from about $180 per year to about $544 per year.

Grzeskowiak said the board likely would re-evaluate how it could split up the projects and tackle each school's construction needs separately.

"We'll have to look at putting one school's needs on the bond at a time," he said.

Projects that would have been tackled with the bond funds, if it had passed, included a full replacement of the district’s 1968 high school ($88.4 million) and some structural improvements to the district elementary and middle schools.

The elementary school currently is split between sites and sprawls over three blocks, according to the district website. Kindergarten classes are in temporary classrooms and other classrooms are undersized and poorly lit with ineffective ventilation.

The district has not passed a bond since 1999. Its last attempt was in May 2016 with a $40 million bond measure, which narrowly failed — by about 300 votes.